Tame Impala – “The Slow Rush”

It’s difficult to get into Kevin Parker’s head, but if you succeed you get into a world of images, sounds, thoughts difficult to find anywhere else: the Australian musician has a very personal approach to music, based on his peculiar way of looking at what happens in his is life.

In his music you can find single feelings and moods transformed into his version of psychedelic music. And to understand deeply Parker’s personality you have to look at the evolution of his music. Innerspeaker (2010) and especially Lonerism (2012) made him obtain the title of star of psychedelia with the consequent world success. This “indie label” embarrassed him, because Parker is very attracted by pop music power to arrive to everyone. He didn’t want to be considered indie, he wanted to be mainstream producing alternative music. That’s why Currents (2015) featured a high level weaving of psych, dance andelectronic lines.

The latest album The Slow Rush (Island Records) pushes on the pedal of the melodies, proving his persistent need of being accepted in the empyrean of pop music and the positive moment in his life. Australian culture doesn’t appreciate too much the fact of being successful, so having moved to Los Angeles helped him not to feel “guilty” of his popularity.

The songs in this new effort are a celebration of this positive moment. “One More Year” starts with the beloved vocoder and evolves in a dancy groove, guitars merging with sinuous synths; “Borderline” is a tribute to black music, next to the effort made recently by Daft Punk; the textures of the song “Breathe Deeper” could be taken from an old Chaka Khan’s album, with the difference in Parker’s angelic voice. “Tomorrow’s Dust” talks about the beauty of being delighted of what you have in the present and it is based on a guitar riff and Parker’s falsetto.

We need The Slow Rush and its injection of positiveness, because listening to this new chapter of Tame Impala history could help us to be resilient and get out of the present crisis.